Chris Vrenna

Vrenna says that most of the bass and guitar parts on the album were recorded direct. “Every single bass sound — and everyone's going to shoot me for saying this — is a [Line 6] Bass Pod Pro,” he says. “But then I come out of the Bass Pod Pro and always put that through my Summit Audio TD-100 tube DI. I don't use the compression within the Pod. I put that through an API and then my ADL tube compressor. Then that goes in. I use [the Pod] for its tones and then do other stuff.” As for the guitars, “A lot of the heavy guitar stuff is the Mesa Tri-Axis and the Recto Directo, things like that. Most of it is direct.” When he did choose to mike the amp, he used either a Shure 57 or a Sennheiser 421.

My sampler is still an E-mu: the E4 Ultra. I still use it every day of my life. They discontinued them because they've gone software, as well with the new E-mu X Series, so I've been picking up used E-mu's out of the recycler and eBay and building a couple more hardware samplers just so I have them.

His recording chain includes a mixture of vintage and contemporary analog gear: an API Lunchbox with EQs, a pair of API mic preamps, a Vintech X73 preamp, a full rack of GMLs, a pair of Avalon U5 DIs and a pair of Summit tube TD-100s…

Things are very organized around Vrenna’s studio. All the essential hardware and synths are within reach, and the drum room is just around the corner. At the center of the studio is the essential Pro Tools rig stocked with four 888 A-D converters and multiple Line 6 Amp Farm cards—all running through a 933mHz Power Mac G4 tower. “I’m getting another Mix Farm in there soon because I’m doing everything else via FireWire,” he says.

“The whole thing started with the guitar riff,” Chris explains, “a big heavy metal-sounding thing. We basically got a click going, then we recorded the riff. I like tube gear, so I use a Mesa/Boogie TriAxis for the big sounds, and also a Marshall JMP-1 [both rack modules]. They’re the best sounding and most natural recording boxes I’ve found for guitar. I use a Line 6 Pod too, but more for the clean stuff.” For this track, the guitar was recorded through the TriAxis into a Neve mic pre, into a Yamaha 02R, and onto the Apogee Rosetta AD en route to Pro Tools. “I tend to use the Neve channel for guitars,” says Chris, “the APIs for drums, and the Summit TD-100s and GMLs for synths.”

“The chopped guitar effects parts you hear started out as straight, sustained guitar chords through an Electrix Filter Factory. Then I put up a 32nd-note grid in Pro Tools, started chopping out slices, and added a small 3ms fade at the head and tail of each piece. It’s the best way to get super-tight tremolo-type patterns.”

"I’ve owned a lot of gear, but only two pieces of gear have done a consistently perfect job for me, and those are my Mac 9600 and the 02R."

Though Vrenna does most of his recording work in Pro Tools, he still likes his “trusty [Yamaha] 02RV2. It's seven years old. I have it loaded with four AES cards, which gives me 32 [channels]. Then I have one extra 888/24 set up as a hardware insert box, where I just have XLR snakes. I can use all my external stuff while I'm mixing.”

For outboard compression, he owns an 1176, a Distressor, a pair of old dbx 160s, an ADL 1000, an old Vocal Stressor from Audio Design Recordings, a pair of 160Xs and a Joe Meek. “I take any combination there, depending upon what I'm tracking,” he says. “It gets me into Pro Tools, and then I have an Apogee as well that I use as my main head.”

Chris Vrenna, Marilyn Manson's keyboard player, chooses Novation

Chris lists this under "Hardware synths" on his website.

Chris lists this under "Hardware synths" on his website.